Eastern`s Pilots To Vote About Strike

Eastern Airlines pilots are willing to strike if necessary to force a change in management philosophy at the financially troubled company, union leader Larry Schulte said Monday.

Angered by the collapse of labor negotiations Sunday, Eastern`s pilots` union sent strike ballots to its 4,300 members and called a press conference in Washington, D.C., to accuse the company again of bad management.

``If it takes a strike to make the airlines rethink their philosophy and get fair and equitable conditions among all the employees to solve their financial problems, we`re willing to do it,`` said Schulte, chairman of the Eastern pilots council of the Air Line Pilots Association.

The National Mediation Board declared an impasse late Sunday in contract negotiations between the two sides. Eastern then rejected an offer of binding arbitration, triggering a 30-day cooling-off period.

Under that timetable, at 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 26, the company will have the option to impose a new contract, and pilots will be free to strike.

Appearing before a crowded news conference, Schulte said he mainly wants to force the company back to the bargaining table.

Schulte said the company never seriously tried to negotiate a compromise and seemed to invite an impasse and strike.

Company spokesman Jerry Cosley said Eastern needs a contract soon and further pressure is needed to prompt a settlement.

``Eastern remains convinced that without the date-certain deadline, there`s little likelihood of achieving anything but a creeping delay,`` Cosley said.

Eastern is racing to win new labor agreements from unions by Feb. 28, just two days after the pilots` strike deadline. Eastern`s bankers want concessions as part of a plan to make Eastern profitable, after a $67.4 million loss in the three months ended Dec. 31.

Meanwhile, Charles Bryan, head of Eastern`s machinists, urged hundreds of Eastern employees attending meetings in Hialeah to buy more Eastern stock to lessen the threat of a strike.

``There may be those who say they can`t afford it, but you can ill afford not to,`` said Bryan, who is president of District 100 of the International Association of Machinists, Eastern`s largest union.

Bryan repeated his assertion that control of Eastern would pass to employees if each worker invested $3,000 in company stock. But he indicated that the pilots` strike countdown puts pressure on the unions to move quickly.

Employees must buy up at least 20 million shares in the next month to own a comfortable majority of Eastern`s 60.2 million shares of common stock. Eastern`s stock closed Monday at $5.75 a share. Bryan acknowledged that a strike would work at cross purposes with the employee ownership plan and ``does not compute`` in the minds of other investors.

``That`s why there has to be pretty strong evidence that we`ve reached that point of comfort before that 30-day clock expires,`` Bryan said.

In 1984, workers acquired 25 percent of Eastern stock, in exchange for wage cuts, but their share has since slipped to about 20 percent.

During the meeting, Bryan said workers can ``pay now`` for stock, or ``pay later`` in the form of new concessions to Eastern.

But the union leader again vowed not to reopen a three-year contract the IAM signed last year, even if Eastern threatens to lay off half his membership.

``We`re not going to be bludgeoned and blackmailed into doing this,`` Bryan said.

Bryan said that by late this week, the union`s stock plans should be on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bryan also indicated that union leaders have retained an executive search firm to lure new management to Eastern. There is ``more than one effort in that area,`` he said.

Robert Callahan, president of Transport Workers Union Local 533, also spoke to the group and pressed Eastern to avoid the scheduled Feb. 4 furlough of 1,010 flight attendants. Eastern could save $1.5 million a month by giving senior attendants leaves of absence instead, he said.

Cosley said the company ``is already working with senior people requesting leave`` but said the union`s analysis hasn`t been presented to management.

Cosley also said Eastern ``is carrying around 200 attendants who may or may not be excess,`` beyond those slated for furlough. They were retained as a ``safety margin`` because of uncertainties about new work rules and because Eastern expects an abnormal number of attendants to retire or report illness as the layoffs take place, Cosley said.

If Eastern miscalculated, those workers could be furloughed at the end of February, he said.